THE SAUBA ANTS 
banks by the water had caused so many trees to fall down 
across it that no canoe could possibly go through. 
I noticed in one or two places along the river traces 
of human beings having been there some years before. 
In the afternoon we again wasted much energy in 
knocking down two palm-trees, on the summit of which 
were great bunches of coco do matto . Again we had a 
bitter disappointment. One after the other we split the 
nuts open, but they contained merely water, inside shells 
that were much harder to crack than wood. My craving 
for food was such that in despair I took two or three 
sauba ants and proceeded to eat them. When I ground 
them under my teeth their taste was so acidly bitter that 
it made me quite ill. Not only that, but one sauba bit 
my tongue so badly that it swelled up to a great size, 
and remained like that for several days. The entire genus 
of the sauba (CEcodonia cephalotes) ant is typical of 
tropical South America. The largest sauba is nearly an 
inch long, and possesses powerful scissor-like clippers, 
with which it can destroy any material, such as leather, 
cloth, paper, or leaves, in a very short time. Their method 
of work is to cut up everything into circles. I remember 
one day dropping on the ground a pair of thick gloves. 
When I went to pick them up I found them reduced to 
a heap of innumerable little discs — each as large as a 
sixpenny coin. It is with those powerful clippers that 
the sauhas, having climbed in swarms up a tree, proceed 
to despoil it of its foliage. The work is done in a sys¬ 
tematic way, each ant quickly severing one leaf and 
carrying it down, banner-like, vertically above its head, 
tightly held between its strong mandibles. 
It is this habit of the saubas which has brought upon 
them the Brazilian name of Carregadores, or carriers. 
One sees everywhere in that country long processions of 
those destructive insects, each individual marching along 
quickly with its green vegetable banner, sometimes eight 
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